FINAL FLIGHT FINAL FIGHT IBD

Sinopse

When Arlington National Cemetery refused to accept my grandmother',sálast request to be laid to rest there, I refused to let her legacy as a veteran die along with her.áMy grandmother, Elaine Danforth Harmon, flew as a pilot with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of World War II. Despite being part of the first group of womenáto flyáfor the United States Army, the WASP remainedáofficially unrecognized as members of the military due to discriminatory thinking about gender on Capitol Hill and beyond.ááWomen flying planes? Too progressive for the World War II era.áWhen I was young, I thought of my grandmother',s trips to accept awards, or to visit the White House, or to give lectures about her time in the service, as her hobby. I knew what she had done and I knew that in the 1970s they had lobbied Congress to get the veterans', status they had been denied during the war. From that point on, my grandmother shared her story of service with the WASP during World War II with anyone who would listen.áBut it was not until after she died that I fully understood why she had spent so many years talking about her service with the WASP. My grandmother',s last request was to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Our family wasásurprised when the United States Army, which managedáthe cemetery, denied that the WASP, and therefore my grandmother, were eligible for placement in the cemetery.áThe Army said ',no', to the wrong family.áI led our family',s campaign on behalf of my grandmother, and all the women of the WASP, across social media, traditional news outlets, and to Capitol Hill to fight for their equal recognition at one of the nation',s most well-known cemeteries. Join me as I organize support in the halls of Congress from Senators and Representatives like Martha McSally, Joni Ernst, Amy Klobuchar, Susan Davis and more.áMy grandmother',s final fight came after her final flightá- but I was honored to follow in her footsteps to ensure her legacy would not be forgotten.á